This was a very different St. Patrick's Day for me as I hurriedly made a green-lettered sign complete with green decorations, donned my Raging Granny hat and apron, and drove to UVM's Davis building to take part in both an outdoor demonstration for single payer health care and an indoor seat at President Obama's Health Care Forum. First off, was the demonstration from 12 until 1 p.m. The forum started at 1 p.m. and lasted until 3:15 p.m.

I sang with the Raging Grannies at the beginning of the rally, touting
Medicare for All, and noting that those of us with Medicare truly do
have a single payer system that works quite well. Dr. Deb Richter in
her white coat and stethoscope, a family practitioner from Montpelier
who practices in Fairfax, led the charge of about 150 doctors, nurses,
and single payer health care advocates who had gathered to show their
support for universal, single payer, Medicare for All Health Care, H.R.
676, not health insurance. Participants, when asked to give the state
they represented, shouted out responses from Vermont, New Hampshire,
Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.

An abundant array of signs touted our message and reminded President
Obama that back in 2003 to 2004 he had said that he believed in a
single payer system. The crowd and several speakers, including Don
Mayer from Small Dog Electronics and Socially Responsible Businesses,
were respectful yet steadfast in expressing our/their belief that a
single payer system without overpriced insurance companies is the only
way to go. Now, businesses are coming on board, realizing that they
are going broke by having to compete globally with countries who have
universal systems and do not have to deal with employee health
insurance with widely varying coverage. There was also an interest in
including dental and eyewear care in such universal coverage.

At 12:45 p.m., I parked my sign, bonnet and apron and proceeded on in
to the forum where, at the very last minute, after requesting a seat, I
was sent an official, nontransferable invitation and parking permit, to
allow me a seat among 250 other attendees in the huge dome-covered
ballroom of this outrageously expensive "green" Davis building. After a
few technical glitches with the DVD of President Obama's voice coming
across sounding like Donald Duck, we watched Obama on the huge screen
introduce this forum, one of only five forums being held around the
country, and only the second, following one the week before in Detroit
Michigan, where the Raging Grannies also sang outside!

The forum was chaired by Governor Douglas and Governor Duval Patrick
(MA), with visitors that included two Obama appointees, Rep. Peter
Welch, Dartmouth researchers, Vermont and Massachusetts policy
advocates including representatives of VPIRG, AARP, business and
insurance providers, policy wonks and a few providers of both Governor
Douglas's Community Connections and Choices for Care initiatives and
Governor Patrick's innovations that mandate health insurance in
Massachusetts and have resulted in just under 98 percent of Bay State
residents having some kind of coverage. As was to be expected, most of
the forum was taken up by the two chairs, calling on their providers in
the audience who promoted the importance of their particular
innovations.

While Dr. Richter had been loudly decrying the lack of inclusion of
single payer advocates at this forum, last minute efforts by the
governor's staff did give a few seats to those of us who had
complained. Con Hogan and Deb Richter sat together and were called on
briefly to speak about the need for universal health care as opposed to
"universal access" by insurance companies and the need to save by
limiting administrative costs. Governor Patrick asked the audience to
discuss the single payer model. I raised my hand, along with several
other single payer advocates. We were not called upon, however, as the
conversation again returned to touting the Massachusetts and Vermont
plans.

Representative Adam Greshin (I), representing Valley towns and a member
of the House Health Care committee, was noted attending as was
Representative Anne Donahue (R) who represents Moretown and Northfield
and sits on the Human Services committee. I was delighted to hear
Donahue ask why the Obama team is not exploring several of the European
plans, which she felt serve their countries well. VPIRG representative
Susan Baker submitted a large, paper document which she stated
contained comments from 200 VPIRG members that had been collected over
the past few months.

One New Hampshire consumer rose to speak of her huge medical bills, her
husband's illness requiring him to quit his job while in his 50s, and
her eventual need to terminate her position also, to care for her
husband. They both have too much income and assets to receive Medicaid
in their state and her husband must wait two years to be eligible for
Medicare health benefits. A UVM senior student asked what she is to do
when she graduates in this poor economic climate where she will
probably not be able to find a job that provides health benefits, and
with large education loans to pay back, feels that she will have little
chance of affording coverage.

Hopefully, somewhere down the line, a plan will be devised that truly
meets the needs of all the people, and not just those who can afford
it, or are included in our current hodge-podge of hugely expensive
public and private programs. They are an administrative nightmare for
medical providers, businesses, insurers, and especially, we, the
consumers. Obama is to be commended for taking on this highly
controversial subject at a time when our financial system is in
freefall, we still have an expensive war in the Middle East, and the
unemployment rolls are still increasing. On the other hand, what better
time to take on health care, than in a severe economic downturn when
businesses need to rid themselves of the responsibility of paying for
the skyrocketing cost of private and public health insurance.